diff --git a/my/core/cfg.py b/my/core/cfg.py
index 4b5cbede..d69f356b 100644
--- a/my/core/cfg.py
+++ b/my/core/cfg.py
@@ -44,12 +44,53 @@ def override_config(config: F) -> Iterator[F]:
             delattr(config, k)
 
 
-# helper for tests? not sure if could be useful elsewhere
+import importlib
+import sys
+from typing import Optional, Set
+ModuleRegex = str
 @contextmanager
-def tmp_config():
-    import my.config as C
-    with override_config(C):
-        yield C # todo not sure?
+def _reload_modules(modules: ModuleRegex) -> Iterator[None]:
+    def loaded_modules() -> Set[str]:
+        return {name for name in sys.modules if re.fullmatch(modules, name)}
+
+    modules_before = loaded_modules()
+
+    for m in modules_before:
+        importlib.reload(sys.modules[m])
+
+    try:
+        yield
+    finally:
+        modules_after = loaded_modules()
+        for m in modules_after:
+            if m in modules_before:
+                # was previously loaded, so need to reload to pick up old config
+                importlib.reload(sys.modules[m])
+            else:
+                # wasn't previously loaded, so need to unload it
+                # otherwise it might fail due to missing config etc
+                sys.modules.pop(m, None)
+
+
+from contextlib import ExitStack
+import re
+@contextmanager
+def tmp_config(*, modules: Optional[ModuleRegex]=None, config=None):
+    if modules is None:
+        assert config is None
+    if modules is not None:
+        assert config is not None
+
+    import my.config
+    with ExitStack() as module_reload_stack, override_config(my.config) as new_config:
+        if config is not None:
+            overrides = {k: v for k, v in vars(config).items() if not k.startswith('__')}
+            for k, v in overrides.items():
+                setattr(new_config, k, v)
+
+        if modules is not None:
+            module_reload_stack.enter_context(_reload_modules(modules))
+        yield new_config
 
 
 def test_tmp_config() -> None:
diff --git a/my/simple.py b/my/simple.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7462291c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/my/simple.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+'''
+Just a demo module for testing and documentation purposes
+'''
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import Iterator
+
+from my.core import make_config
+
+from my.config import simple as user_config
+
+
+@dataclass
+class simple(user_config):
+    count: int
+
+
+config = make_config(simple)
+
+
+def items() -> Iterator[int]:
+    yield from range(config.count)
diff --git a/tests/test_tmp_config.py b/tests/test_tmp_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..55a21f01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_tmp_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+import tempfile
+
+from my.core.cfg import tmp_config
+
+import pytest
+
+
+def _init_default_config():
+    import my.config
+    class default_config:
+        count = 5
+    my.config.simple = default_config  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
+_init_default_config()
+
+
+from my.simple import items
+
+
+def test_tmp_config() -> None:
+    assert len(list(items())) == 5
+
+    class config:
+        class simple:
+            count = 3
+
+    with tmp_config(modules='my.simple', config=config):
+        assert len(list(items())) == 3
+
+    assert len(list(items())) == 5
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index ed2a0845..5ae76f3a 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ passenv =
 commands =
     pip install -e .[testing]
     {envpython} -m pytest \
-                      tests/core.py      \
-                      tests/sqlite.py    \
-                      tests/get_files.py \
+                      tests/core.py            \
+                      tests/sqlite.py          \
+                      tests/get_files.py       \
+                      tests/test_tmp_config.py \
                       {posargs}